Comatose
by The Documentor
Summary: She shut her eyes hard, her hands over her mouth, wishing this mightmare would just end. May be continuing. HouseCam nudges. Rated for a wee bit of language
1. Chapter 1

Comatose

The Documentor

Summary: It had finally happened and everybody wanted a piece.

A/N: I am neither a doctor nor a cop nor a resident of the United States, so I have a huge likelihood of making mistakes with plot lines, law and basic medicine. This said, please bear with me. Anything, canon wise, that doesn't make sense, please notify me of it. Anything else, please just accept it as part of the storyline and forgive me for mistakes. Thanks.

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All she could hear was the beating of her heart in her ears and the pounding of her feet against the hospital tile. People were swarming around the ward – it had finally happened and everybody wanted a piece. She could see her boss' boss standing outside of the room, waving her arms around and stopping people at the door. She had actually given him the dignity of a private room, even though it was anything but. As soon as she caught eyes with her, her arms spread out to part the people for the running woman coming towards her. She didn't even both to acknowledge her as she ran past, just halting in front of her boss. Her broken boss. Her broken love.

His best friend sat beside the bed, tears evident in the young man's eyes and anger replaced the sadness in Allison Cameron's eyes as she saw him. She held herself back for her eyes were fixed on her boss, lying on the infirmary bed as vulnerable as he would hate to be. She walked slowly towards him; noticing the bandages wrapped tightly around his arms and the scratches on his face. She didn't even feel the tears well in her eyes as she felt them roll down her face solemnly. She didn't see James Wilson turn around with darkened eyes to see her standing, just staring numbly at her boss, and he stood, walking past her roughly. She heard the door click closed behind her and this – a wake-up call to remind her that she was still alive – made her fall, sobs shaking her body violently as she fell.

It wasn't until a long time when the door finally edged open again and somebody pulled her body close to theirs, sitting on the ground of the hospital room.

"It's going to be okay, Allie." She heard Robert Chase's voice calm her and her dry throat cracked as she opened her mouth to speak.

"He did this." She managed out after a minute and she let another sob course through her body. She felt his fingers pulling her hair behind her ears and she saw his face come in front of hers with a calm look.

"I know. He'll come out of this. You know he's strong."

She looked up, watching the machines keep their slow but steady rhythm. She heard the ventilator hiss in the background and she looked once again at the grubby hospital tile, slowly standing with Chase's help. He kept her in his arms as she watched Gregory House fight weakly for life; the life he had tried to forfeit. She let another few tears roll down her white cheeks before letting her lips open a small bit.

"I just don't know how much."

Seconds, minutes, hours passed; none of it mattered to her. After a calming talk with Chase and a visit from Eric Foreman, she was seated quietly in the chair beside him, still staring numbly. She barely wanted to think about what Lisa Cuddy had seen when she stumbled into his apartment, worried that she hadn't heard from House in two days. Little did she know that she'd find him on the floor of his apartment, still where Wilson had seen him earlier, drowned in his own vomit and the whole bottle of oxycodone boiling in his stomach. Cuddy knew somewhere in the back of her mind that this was going to happen and this was why she wept whilst on the phone to her doctors, completely distraught with the fact that she'd let it go on and come to this. Barely minutes later, he was lying in her hospital with all the machines conceivable attached to him, in a coma due to an overdose. They had no idea when, or if, he would wake.

Cameron hung her head briefly and breathed back another bout of tears rising to her eyes. She was furious when Wilson had been inside the room before so she was even worse when he re-entered. He still had his thick overcoat and scarf on, like he'd just come in from the freshly driven snow. He had a darkened look to his eyes, a hunched figure and pursed lips as he entered the room and the second that the immunologist saw him, she gritted her teeth together.

"Get out." She uncharacteristically growled and Wilson was taken aback for a minute. He was well aware that she had a problem with him but he'd never thought she'd react so badly to his simple presence.

"He's my best friend-"

"Get out, you selfish bastard, before I call security."

"Excuse me?"

"You did this to him," she stood up furiously and her eyes narrowed to slits, "you have no right to be in here, do you hear me?"

"I hardly think this is the time, Allison."

"I am Dr. Cameron to you," she said and he narrowed his own eyes. "You're the one who went to check on him and you found him like Cuddy did. You left him to die. You don't deserve to come and visit and pay condolences."

"You know that what I did was for his own good."

"Do you think this is good intentions?" She started to raise her voice and walk towards him, her eyes dancing with the fires of fury. "Do you think that leaving him for dead on the floor of his apartment is for his own good? Do you honestly think that him overdosing and being in a fucking coma is for his own good?"

"Dr. Cameron-"

"He was in huge amounts of pain, but it never mattered to you or Tritter or even Cuddy. No," the malicious look that she was giving him made him almost scared of her, "you just thought he had a problem. And sure, maybe he did, but he's in pain for Christ's sake! Can't you fucking see that?"

"House was stealing prescriptions from patients, seeking drugs from anywhere he could," now they were both starting to yell, "he had a problem and anyone can see that."

"His problem was affecting no one but him. In fact, it wasn't even affecting him! But now it is because he's been pushed over the limit. Can't you take just a little bit of responsibility for this?"

"It's not my fault he tried to kill himself!"

There. That big, ugly fact that people had been trying to avoid had been spoken. Cameron's eyes widened and Wilson was a little taken aback by what he had said. Her eyes shot back to her boss, who still lay in a coma, and she felt bad for talking about him like he was a toy, something people played with. She felt like she was doing him some wrong by talking about him and trying to protect him but she needed to finish her point.

"He was an addict. He can admit that. He did not have a problem." Cameron said, walking back towards him and lifting her chin up. "And, besides that, you could have stopped him earlier but you didn't. Now he's in a coma. So if you don't mind, get the hell out."

He narrowed his eyes and yanked the door handle, leaving promptly. He slammed the door in his wake and she let out a long, shaky breath. She folded her arms; tears still flowing freely down her face as she turned around to watch him again. She tried to stop him, even if she could do no more than words. She had said that Cuddy didn't trust her not to bring pills; she was the only one to know that a bottle of basic, relatively harmless painkillers was tucked under her thick coat when she visited him. She just didn't want to put him in any more danger. She felt somewhat responsible for this, and so she had to find blame elsewhere. She had resented Wilson for cracking under Tritter's pressure and she had a problem with him because he pretended that it was all for House's good. She had never believed him and she had cursed at him a million times in her head because now his 'good' intentions were lying weak and unconscious, something her boss would detest to.

More hours passed and even though Cuddy had visited, she refused the sandwiches and salads she brought her. Cuddy had tried to coax her into a shower – she'd been sitting in the same place for nearly twelve hours now – but she didn't dare move. She had been the only one to stay actively on House's side and so she wasn't leaving his physical side either. After a while, Cuddy shook her head and left, disappointed. She hadn't seen Wilson for hours and she suspected it was because he was afraid that she would still be here, sitting alone with nobody to accompany her in her plight. Chase returned after a while, telling her that it was the next morning now and that she should get some sleep. She nodded her head and asked for one small assurance; that Chase would not leave her. He promised her that he wouldn't leave and so she shifted her seat further, closer to her boss. Feeling slightly uncomfortable but not knowing what else to do, she lightly took her boss's hand, rubbing circles into it with her own. Sadly, Chase watched her fall slowly asleep to the rhythm of the ventilator and the heart monitors.

She woke groggily to the sound of worried voices, standing on the other side of the room. Her eyes snapped open; worried that something had happened to the man lying beside her. Chase was standing, talking to a woman Cameron hadn't seen for months and she slowly stood, making her sudden presence known.

"Stacy," Cameron said and the dark-eyed woman looked over, nodding her head and Cameron noticed that she looked as if she had been crying as well.

"Hey there Allison," she said calmly, walking towards her and giving her a warm hug to somewhat comfort her. "You should-"

"Have something to eat, get some sleep, have a shower. I know." She said, pulling away and looking at her boss on the hospital bed. "But I don't wanna leave."

"I know how you feel," she said quietly, rubbing her palm soothingly on her back, "I only left for a shower once in the four days he was here before the surgery." Cameron nodded and returned to her seat, folding her legs under her as she continued to watch him.

"How long was I asleep?" She whispered and Chase let out a small sigh.

"About two hours."

"Oh." She played with her fingers before looking up at Chase standing, almost guarded, over her hunched figure. He looked as if he was a knight in bleached lab-coat as he stood, but his eyes lied and told her his real concern for not only their boss. She saw in the corner of her eye that Stacy folded her jacket over the chair in the opposite corner and took her own seat, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands. Cameron let her own head hang, wondering if anything had happened within those hours. She looked at her watch; she'd been sitting in the same seat for just over eighteen hours. After half an hour, Cuddy had returned, talking to Stacy and Cameron and comforting them. She gave Cameron a long, warm hug and tears began to fall down Cameron's face again.

"He'll get through this, Allison," she said, giving her a sympathetic smile, "he's a stubborn bastard, remember?" For the first time in two days, Cameron gave a small laugh and Chase smiled, happy to see that she still had her sense of humour under all that sadness.

"Let's just hope that time is on his side." Stacy said quietly, keeping her calm and Cameron felt like a hopeless child, as if she needed constant reassurance before she would break down again.

After a while, Cuddy still sitting with the women and Chase, she smiled and patted on the seat beside her.

"Let's get some dinner, shall we? It's about time we ate."

"I'll stay," Cameron said weakly, still not hungry, "I'm okay."

"Come on Allison, you need to eat," Stacy tried and Cameron looked back at her boss, still unchanged after all these hours. She nodded and weakly stood, brushing little bits of dust from her jeans. Her companions gave her small smiles as she walked towards them, her legs weak from disuse. She stopped before the door, turning back to Chase who rubbed his lightly stubbled chin and rolled the other sleeve of his shirt to his elbows.

"Robert," she said faintly and he turned to look at her, "could you stay?"

"Of course, Ally."

As they walked slowly outside and down the hallway, Cuddy and Stacy were happy they just got Cameron from the room. They didn't blame her for being so down; they all knew about how much she cared for her boss, no matter how much she protested against it. As they walked past, Cameron couldn't help but look into the conference room and his office, lifeless and empty. She remembered always coming into the office and opening up the blinds, letting the morning sunshine through and making it feel somewhat welcoming. All the lights were turned off and no cups of coffee were left on the desk and nothing suggested that anyone had been there in years. She hung her head again as they kept walking and talking on their way to the cafeteria.

She nibbled uneventfully at a small bunch of fries and Cuddy begged her to drink her bottle of water. The three women talked about their boss, employee and friend's condition, what they think happened and what they thought about Tritter. Cameron was surprised to find that Cuddy disagreed with Wilson and Tritter's plan, knowing somewhere in the back of her mind that it would come to this. Stacy was quickly filled in and she tended to disagree, knowing that House was always in pain, but wasn't surprised when she heard about his plights to possess any painkiller he could. Cameron finally admitted that she felt somewhat responsible for not doing anything on her visit to his apartment days before and Cuddy reassured her, again, that she could not have done a thing more to stop it. On this note, they decided to go back up to the hospital.

As they walked past House's office again, Cameron stopped in front of the door with an idea.

"What's wrong?" Cuddy said, looking back as she and Stacy were a few steps ahead. Cameron's head snapped up and she pointed inside.

"I'll be back there soon, I have an idea." They nodded and she went slowly into the office, they left her to her own devices. When she returned, she opened the door awkwardly with a small stereo and iPod jack tangled in her hands. Chase instantly stood up and helped her set it down on the table next to the bed. They all gave her strange looks as she plugged in the cords and fiddled with the iPod itself.

"He left his iPod in his office and I thought he might like it," she said, plugging the device into the stereo and a soft trumpet tune began to play through the speakers, "they say that comatose people can hear." She hated admitting it but she had to face the truth at some point. Cuddy smiled, tears meeting her eyes as she nodded.

"That's a beautiful thought, Allison."

After a few more hours and a little more unsuccessful persuasion, Cameron found herself alone in the moonlit infirmary room with her boss. The only things breaking the silence were the steady beats of the heart monitor and the hiss of the ventilator covering House's mouth. She stared at him, willing him with her thoughts to awaken. He had been out for, what they thought, 24 hours and even though it didn't seem that long to the normal person, it felt like a lifetime to Cameron who missed him immensely. She hated seeing her boss so…vulnerable, so weak and so lifeless. Despite his sarcasm and his cynicism, he was more often than not making jokes and tormenting people and saving lives, doing the signature things he did best. She found it incredibly hard to accept that he wasn't that way to her anymore; he was a depressed drug addict with the capability to kill himself, no matter the risks. She fell asleep, her hand on his, her head lying on the mattress next to him and diamond tears in her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

A subtle shaking on her shoulder waked Cameron and her eyes opened to meet with the soft green ones of Chase. She heard the dull mumbling of voices as Chase smiled softly at her.

"Sorry but we need you."

"What time is it?" She said groggily and Chase glanced at his watch as she pulled her head from beside House. In a quick stroke of hope, she looked over to him but he was just as she left him. Saddened, she turned back to Chase who kept looking at his watch.

"About seven a.m." He said and she looked to see who was in the room. She noticed Stacy sitting on the other side of the room, holding her head up with her hands on her chin and her elbows rested on her knees. She noticed Foreman standing with his hands folded as he leant against the wall with a tired looking Chase standing with him. She saw Cuddy standing, with a slightly peeved look on her face and the men she was standing with explained why. Anger suddenly surged through Cameron's veins as she saw both Wilson and Michael Tritter standing at the end of House's hospital bed, Tritter looking down at House almost condescendingly. She barely noticed that Stacy had turned on House's stereo on again and a honky-tonk song was playing, singing '_None of us are free, one of us is chained, none of us are free...'_. She barely noticed the fruit salad on the table next to her that Chase had brought for her breakfast. She was too absorbed in Tritter's smug smile as he noticed that she was awake and the fact that they even dared to be inside House's hospital room, invading his private space.

"Good morning, Dr. Cameron," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets, "did you sleep well?"

"I slept badly, not that you care," she snapped and his smile grew a little closer to his ears as she visibly fumed.

"I'm glad to hear it," he ignored her comment, "but I have something to tell you all."

He looked around the room, noticing how everybody inside it was reacting to his presence. He knew very well that he had effectively separated this group and it was just another element to his bringing-down of House. He noticed that Stacy, a woman he'd only met this morning, already had a small part of hatred for him in her eyes – obviously someone with strong feelings for House. It had escaped him how such an anti-social drug addict could attract these intelligent women. He saw Foreman and Chase watching him expectantly; Foreman with his arms folded crossly and Chase with his casual posture. He observed Cuddy's folded features; pursed lips, folded arms, knitted brow. He knew that she strongly disagreed with him, even though she partly agreed with House finally getting some help. He turned his head and saw Wilson looking guiltily at the linoleum floor, knowing that he felt somewhat responsible for this. Tritter's smug smile became a little wider as he looked back at House on the bed.

"As soon as Dr. House is ready to be discharged, he will be put on trial and sent to jail." He said, listening to the gasps and growls and grunts given by the other inhabitants of the room. He turned and saw Wilson's face fold from guilt to sadness to downright anger, the same that he saw on the other's faces.

"Why." Cameron said, watching him with her pierced eyes and he looked over at her. She wanted nothing more in the world to get up and physically abuse him but she knew that she would end up as House's roommate in jail.

"New Jersey law states that if a person who's already going to be put on trial for drug possession has an overdose, they are immediately proven guilty and it's an open and closed case. Your dear Dr. House will be inside for a fair while." He turned and watched the angry faces of the people attached to House knowing that then and there, he had done much more than he had intended.

"I hope you're happy." Cameron muttered as she stood, ripping between Tritter and Wilson, tearing the door open and storming down the hallway. A dry nausea rose up her throat and by the time she'd reached the porcelain sink, she coughed up the small contents of her stomach. She stared at the liquid bile running down the side of the bleached white sink and angrily turned on the tap, letting the water dilute and wash away the stains. After it was clean again, she cupped her hands to fill them with water, watching the water slip effortlessly through her fingers. At that moment, she flicked up her hands and splashed her face trying in a desperate effort to wash away whatever she felt was crawling over her skin, like a disease. She'd been there for more than a day and she'd only eaten a tiny little bit so as she looked into her own eyes in the mirror, she felt horrified with herself. Her hair was oily and messy; she hadn't applied makeup in days so her mascara was dry as it ran many hours ago; her skin looked pale and her eyes were glazed with anger and sadness. Spitting out the last bit in her mouth, she ran a paper towel over her mouth and walked back out of the bathroom. At that moment, she felt a buzzing at her waist and realised that she hadn't taken off her pager. It read that something had happened in House's room and so she ran as fast as her frail body could down the hallway. She saw Tritter standing in the hallway, looking around the hallway suspiciously. She pointedly ignored him as she pushed inside the room, seeing the doctors around his bed.

"What's going on?" She asked and Wilson turned around, his eyes rough. He moved aside and she saw House's eyes opened to slits and his mouth open to speak. "Oh my God," she said, rushing to the side of his bed and grabbing his hand, "you're awake." She felt tears pour down her face as she saw his head move slowly to look at her and his mouth purse up a little bit to give her a weak smile. She gave a small glance at his stats, seeing that his heart rate and blood pressure were high but his O2 sats were thankfully normal. She looked back down at him and rubbed his hand with her thumb.

"How do you feel?" She asked the obvious question and he gave a long blink.

"Just peachy." He said, his voice hoarse and scratchy. She gave a small smile and was pleasantly surprised that he let her hold his hand, as he lay weak on the bed. It was a few more minutes of smiling and small words before the door clicked open slowly and all eyes were fixed on the intruder. Tritter strolled in, smirking as he did so.

"Get out." House said croakily but strongly. Tritter shut the door and walked to the end of the bed, everyone's eyes on him.

"Sorry, but I need to inform you of something."

"Get the fuck out of my room." The consistent beeping grew faster and louder, making Cuddy's eyes widen.

"Detective Tritter, I don't think this is the right time-"

"Get him out of my room!" House found the breath to yell and Tritter's smirk grew wider as he watched House's face turn ghostly and his heart monitor go berserk.

"Heart rate's soaring," Foreman said as House suddenly went lifeless and Cameron backed from the bed, letting her fellow doctors work on her boss. Cuddy already had the crash cart and was pounding upon his chest with the de-fribulator as she watched, almost in awe. Her tears kept marching down her face as time seemed to drag on forever; the long monotonous sound sending chills down her spine. Every shock, every amp of epinephrine, every glance from one of her friends made her feel worse for just standing in shock. When the doctors split from the back of the bed and she saw all the way down his lifeless face as Cuddy, tears racing down her own face, proceeded to shock way past protocol, she shut her eyes hard, her hands over her mouth, wishing this nightmare would just end.


End file.
